County has a better plan on base closure
County has better plan on base closure
Loyd Neal
Saturday, June 23, 2007
The BRAC 2005 decision to close Naval Station Ingleside and realign Naval Air Station Corpus Christi and the Army Depot will have a long-term impact on all segments of our community. These include labor, business, education, health care, welfare and our infrastructure.
The region will be hard hit with an estimated loss of 7,000 jobs, half of these in Nueces County. It continues to be the position of Nueces County that such a broad impact must be addressed by the affected communities as a whole and must be in compliance with federal and state guidelines and that persons entrusted with this responsibility must be free from undisclosed financial interests.
The Port of Corpus Christi Authority, an appointed body, may have unintentionally exceeded its authority in establishing an overarching committee in response to BRAC 2005. The port created the Coastal Bend Redevelopment Planning Committee to represent the broader interests of the Coastal Bend. It would have sole authority to address the economic and social impacts affecting the future of the Coastal Bend for 30-50 years.
Although it was stated that local communities would participate in the process as members of various subcommittees, actual voting and decision authority of the Coastal Bend Redevelopment Planning Committee was vested in a nine-member executive council, the majority port-appointed subcommittee chairs. Executive council members would not be required to file financial disclosure statements customarily filed by elected public officials and voting members of groups with similar authority over public resources.
At the 2006 Texas Senate Base Realignment and Closure Subcommittee hearing, John Montgomery, an attorney with Washington-based Tighe Patton law firm and former Navy captain and Pentagon counsel with BRAC experience, testified concerning deficiencies in the Coastal Bend Redevelopment Planning Committee and its by-laws. Montgomery also raised questions about whether the port was exceeding its authority under Texas law in attempting to control the entire regional redevelopment and readjustment effort. In 2007, the port attempted legislation to expand its authority. The bill was rejected.
County did right thing
With $25 million in Nueces County money at stake and faced with the loss of over 3,000 jobs, the Nueces County commissioners did the right thing in voicing concerns to the Coastal Bend Redevelopment Planning Committee. The Commissioners Court attempted to work within the Coastal Bend Redevelopment Planning Committee structure for changes to the composition of the executive council and an amendment to the by-laws requiring financial disclosure.
After this attempt failed, the Commissioners Court acted to protect county residents and to bring this development to the attention of Washington officials.
Nueces County retained the Tighe Patton firm to refine a Regional Local Redevelopment Authority plan that would meet federal guidelines and represent the interests of the Coastal Bend. In early 2007, the court met with the law firm and we agreed there were shortcomings in the original plan. The Pentagon halted certification of the Coastal Bend Redevelopment Planning Committee. On May 16, the Commissioners Court approved a resolution creating a Coastal Bend Local Redevelopment Authority with a 15-member executive council, including elected officials from area jurisdictions, state representatives, port commissioners, Workforce Commission representatives, organized labor, and community leaders.
The executive council envisioned by the Commissioners Court contains broad-based community representation contemplated in Pentagon guidelines for regional redevelopment authorities. Nueces County is attempting to gain support for the Coastal Bend Local Redevelopment Authority from its sister jurisdictions in the Coastal Bend. This support will be the first step in obtaining federal funds, addressing future development, readjustment tasks and ultimate success in realigning the 7,000-plus jobs vacuum in the Coastal Bend.
Loyd Neal is Nueces County judge. Commissioners Peggy Bañales, Betty Jean Longoria, Oscar Ortiz, and H.C. "Chuck" Cazales contributed to this article.
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